The Ultimate Fighter In the second episode Jesse Taylor won his entry match against Nick Rossborough by
rear naked choke. After all entry matches were done the teams were to pick the fighters that they wanted. Taylor was picked sixth overall by
Forrest Griffin. With
Quinton Jackson getting the first pick for fighters, Griffin was to choose the first preliminary fight. Griffin chose Taylor to take on Mike Dolce; In the second round, Taylor won the fight again via a
rear naked choke. Taylor's quarterfinal fight was against
Dante Rivera, which Taylor also won, this time via unanimous decision. Taylor had now advanced to the semi-finals against his close friend
Tim Credeur, a fight which Taylor won by unanimous decision, putting him into the finals.
Removal from finale Taylor was removed from the finals after a security recording was presented to
Dana White. He was shown kicking out one of the side windows of a rented limousine. The staff of the hotel where the incident occurred reported that a drunken Taylor had frightened female patrons and confronted hotel security by acting aggressively and screaming that he was a
UFC fighter. White told Taylor that this type of behavior was unacceptable, and that he believed Taylor did not possess the mental discipline to deal with the pressures of fame and popularity that being in the UFC would put on him. White told Taylor that because of his actions he had forfeited his place in the final match, a decision that an emotional Taylor did not try to protest. However, White went on to thank Taylor for his efforts in the show, and advised him to "go home, get your life together, call me in a few months". Later, in the July fight promo footage for
UFC: Silva vs. Irvin, White recounted a conversation he had with Taylor: On July 29 the
Wrestling Observer reported that Taylor had been released from the
UFC.
Post UFC In his first fight since his release from the
UFC, Taylor fought
Drew Fickett at a catchweight of 175 pounds. Taylor upset the more experienced Fickett, winning by
TKO due to strikes in 1 minutes and 42 seconds. After the fight, Taylor then dropped down from
middleweight to
welterweight. He later fought on January 15, where he was set to fight unbeaten Pat Minihan, instead Taylor fought Rico Altamirano, he defeated Altamirano via
rear naked choke in the second round. Taylor fought on February 14, 2009, in
Daytona Beach, Florida. He was set to go up against Esteban Ramos. Taylor ended up fighting and beating (1-0) fighter Gert Kocani. Taylor again won via
rear naked choke in the second round. Jesse fought on March 28, 2009, in
Colorado. He took on
Chris Camozzi, defeating him by decision. Jesse won the King of Champions belt held by Camozzi. On May 2, 2009, Taylor defeated MMA veteran Eric DaVila at Shark Fight 4. Taylor then won his sixth straight fight since being released from the
UFC after defeating Rubén Darío at
Total Combat 33. The fight was for the Total Combat
middleweight title.
DREAM One day after his win over Darío, Taylor was offered a fight for
Japan promotion,
DREAM. He made his debut on July 20, 2009, at
DREAM 10 against Korean
Judoka,
Yoon Dong-sik. Taylor won after Yoon injured his ankle and was not able to continue.
Strikeforce Nick Diaz was slated to face
Jay Hieron for the
Welterweight Championship belt. However, Diaz missed a pre-fight drug test mandated by the California State Athletic Commission and was denied a license to compete. Diaz was replaced by Taylor, who moved down to welterweight, and the fight was changed to a non-title bout. Taylor lost the match via unanimous decision. Taylor had his second fight for the
Strikeforce promotion on November 6, 2009, on the main card of the
Strikeforce Challengers: Gurgel vs. Evangelista event. He lost to
Luke Rockhold (5-1) in a
middleweight contest.
Maximum Fighting Championship Taylor signed a two-fight deal with Canadian-based promotion,
Maximum Fighting Championship. His first fight was on the MFC 25 card against
Thales Leites, losing in the first round by
submission. Before taking another fight with the MFC, Taylor fought former
UFC middleweight champion
Murilo Bustamante. In the second round of the fight, referee
John McCarthy stood the pair up and as the fight was about to continue, Bustamante seemingly lost equilibrium and could not continue, giving Taylor the
TKO victory. Taylor was scheduled to fight
PRIDE FC,
UFC, and
DREAM veteran,
Denis Kang at Battlefield Fight League 7. Kang later pulled out of the fight, and Jesse moved up to
Light Heavyweight to fight Clay Davidson, defeating him in a unanimous decision. The fight with Kang was rescheduled for May 28, 2011, at Battlefield Fight League 8. Taylor won by
submission in the first round, getting Kang in a
rear naked choke. Taylor replaced an injured
Paulo Filho at KSW XVII and faced
Mamed Khalidov. He lost the fight via
kneebar submission early in the first round.
Cage Warriors Taylor faced
Judo black belt Gaël Grimaud on May 24, 2012, in
Isa Town,
Bahrain at Cage Warriors Fight Night 6 for Grimaud's
welterweight championship. Taylor dominated the first two rounds by utilizing his
wrestling to take Grimaud down and control him throughout the round while also peppering Grimaud with short strikes. Early in the third round Grimaud took Taylor's back. As Taylor was attempting to escape back control, Grimaud trapped Taylor's arm and transitioned to an
armbar, forcing Taylor to submit and thus retaining his
welterweight title. On December 31, 2012, Taylor defeated former champion Chris Fields in Fields's hometown of
Dublin, Ireland at
Cage Warriors 51 to win the CWFC
middleweight title. Just two months removed from winning the Cage Warriors middleweight title, Taylor fought
The Ultimate Fighter 3 winner,
Kendall Grove. The fight was for Taylor's K-OZ Entertainment middleweight title he had won back in November 2012. The contest took place on February 23, 2013, in
Perth, Western Australia. Taylor controlled the fight for five consecutive rounds, winning the fight via unanimous decision, and defending his middleweight title. Taylor had his first Cage Warriors Middleweight title defense on May 4, 2013, on the Cage Warriors 54 card. Taylor fought, and defeated, "The White Tyson"
John Phillips via submission early in the first round.
World Series of Fighting A few weeks after his first successful Cage Warriors title defense, it was announced Taylor had signed an exclusive deal with the
World Series of Fighting. Taylor would take part in the promotion's four-man middleweight tournament set to determine the first WSOF middleweight champion. Besides Taylor, the participants were
Elvis Mutapčić,
David Branch and
Danillo Villefort. Taylor was expected to fight
Elvis Mutapčić in the opening round at
WSOF 5. The New Jersey Athletic Commission cancelled the fight after seeing Mutapcic take an unknown and unapproved medication backstage before the fight. The fight was rescheduled for
WSOF 7. Taylor won the fight via unanimous decision. In the Middleweight tournament final, Taylor faced
David Branch at
World Series of Fighting 10 on June 21, 2014. He lost the fight via
D'arce choke submission in the first round.
Battlegrounds Taylor fought in the BattleGrounds MMA in a Single Night 8-Man Tournament on October 3, 2014. He lost his quarterfinal fight against Trey Houston via submission in the first round.
Arena Tour 6 Taylor had an upcoming fight against fellow UFC veteran
Maiquel Falcao for Argentinian mma promotion Arena Tour on April 18, 2015. Taylor lost the fight against Falcao by guillotine choke in the first round at 3:13.
League S-70 Taylor fought
Michail Tsarev on August 29, 2015, at League S-70: Russia vs. World. He won the fight via Submission (guillotine choke).
Absolute Championship Berkut Taylor lost in the first fight in the
ACB lost to Aslambek Saidov at the
ACB 40: Battleground on June 3, 2016, via submission (guillotine choke) in the first round. Taylor faced
Mukhamed Berkhamov on October 22, 2016, at
ACB 48. He lost the fight via submission (armbar) in the first round. Taylor had been expected to face Guillerme Martinez on January 13, 2017, at
ACB 51 but Martinez instead faced Ivan Castillo.
The Ultimate Fighter: Redemption On February 15 it was announced that Taylor would be joining the cast of
Season 25 of The Ultimate Fighter. During team picks in episode one Taylor joined team Dillashaw as
T.J. Dillashaw's second pick, after former UFC Fighter James Krause. In episode 3, Taylor faced former training partner
Mehdi Baghdad and won by unanimous decision to advance to the quarter-finals. He next faced
Hayder Hassan and won the bout via submission in the first round. Taylor faced
James Krause in the semi-finals and won via submission in the third round to advance to the finals.
UFC return Nine years after his first stint on the show, Taylor fought
Dhiego Lima in the finals on July 7, 2017, at
The Ultimate Fighter: Redemption Finale. Taylor won the fight via rear-naked choke submission in the second round. Taylor was expected to face
Belal Muhammad on November 19, 2017, at
UFC Fight Night 121. However on September 13, it was announced that Taylor was pulled from the card after being notified by
USADA of a potential doping violation. He was flagged after an out-of-competition drug test conducted August 22.
Post UFC Taylor went 2-1 on the regional scene, losing via first-round guillotine choke against
Mukhamed Berkhamov at
ACA 100 and then rebounding against fellow UFC vet
Seth Baczynski at NWFA 1: Retribution and Daniel McWilliams at J Street Fights 2, submitting both with a rear-naked choke. He was booked against reigning champion Christian Leroy Duncan at Cage Warriors 148 for the
CWFC Middleweight Championship on December 31, 2022, however he was involved in a hit and run the day before the event and had to pull out of the bout. Taylor faced Jared Revel for the BFL Middleweight Championship on March 30, 2023, at BFL 76, getting submitted in the first round via triangle choke. == Personal life ==